Pinchas פנחס

How do we effectively combat social injustice? How do we sound our voice when it is not countered or heard? How does leadership react to a call for change in the face of injustice and inequality?

One of the main stories in this week's parasha is the unique story about Zelophehad's five daughters dare to question their social place and the destiny imposed on them. They stand in the center of the public space demanding from the main authority figures, all of whom are men, that they change the existing laws discriminating against them and demand to be counted. Moreover, they make it possible for daughters to inherit land when there are no sons or brothers, an incredible step for women of the time.

The song "Prayer of the Mothers", was born as a result of an alliance made between singer-songwriter Yael Deckelbaum, and a group of courageous women, leading the movement of “Women Wage Peace”.

The movement arose on summer 2014 during the escalation of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, and the military operation “Tzuk Eitan”.

On October 4, 2016, Jewish and Arab women began with the joint "March of Hope" project. Thousands of women marched from the north of Israel to Jerusalem in a call for peace. A call that reached it’s peak on October 19th, in a march of at least 4,000 women half of them Palestinian, and Half Israeli, in Qasr el Yahud (on the northern Dead Sea), in a joint prayer for peace. The very same evening 15,000 women protested in front of the priministors house in Jerusalem.

The marches were joined by the Nobel Prize for Peace winner Leymah Gbowee, who lead to the end of the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003, by the joint force of women.

The Masorti Movement is committed to a pluralistic, egalitarian, and democratic vision of Zionism. Masorti represents a “third” way. Not secular Judaism. Not ultra-Orthodoxy. But a Jewish life that integrates secular beliefs. Halakhah with inclusion and egalitarianism. Tradition that recognizes the realities of today’s world. Masorti engages tens of thousands of Israelis each year, young and old, native born as well as olim from around the globe.